Indonesian House of Representatives Commission VIII Urges Preparation of Haj Scenarios if Middle East Tensions Persist

Chairman of Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Marwan Dasopang, has called on the government to prepare a range of scenarios regarding the administration of the Hajj amid the escalation of Middle East conflict. Marwan said one option to be prepared is the possibility of not dispatching pilgrims if security conditions do not permit.

‘We want the government to take steps. The steps taken may be a variety of alternatives. From the safest angle, not sending Hajj pilgrims because the escalation cannot be predicted. But that, from a religious-psychological perspective, may be somewhat heavy,’ Marwan said at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday (6 March 2026).

‘Secondly, if you do not dispatch, or if it is no longer possible to depart,’ he added.

However, he said, if that scenario occurs, the government needs to ensure that funds already paid for services to pilgrims are not lost. He urged the government to negotiate with various service providers to discuss the matter of pilgrimage.

‘Our government is urged to reassure various service providers that what has been paid does not result in a loss. Force majeure, indeed. What percentage of force majeure is, that is what we want to push the government to determine so that the money deposited as government obligations is not lost entirely,’ he said.

On the other hand, Marwan also highlighted the possibility of a scenario when pilgrims had already departed for Saudi Arabia. However, if upon arrival in Saudi Arabia there is an escalation of conflict, necessitating a return scenario.

‘(For example) the situation is safe, say they depart, but suddenly they cannot return there. It turns out the escalation, after it subsides, increases again,’ he said.

According to him, the government must prepare a handling scheme that does not burden pilgrims with additional costs. He asked the government to review the study.

‘First, calculate the costs that must be borne by pilgrims, and of course pilgrims cannot be burdened. This requires re-examining how to place pilgrims in Saudi,’ he explained.

Further, Marwan said that to date there has been no directive from the Saudi government regarding the cancellation of the Hajj. He said Indonesia still has hopes that the Hajj pilgrimage will proceed this year.

‘There is no information, but nothing has been cancelled. So as long as we seek information from the government, the communication to Saudi is that there is no information to not perform Hajj. Well, in the past there was COVID information; we did not perform Hajj, but this is not the case yet. So we still have hope we will perform Hajj,’ he stated.

Meanwhile, regarding Umrah, Marwan noted that the government had previously urged prospective pilgrims who have not yet departed to delay their journey. As for pilgrims who are already in Saudi Arabia, he said, they must follow government instructions.

But he noted that Umrah flight operations are still continuing to this day. He said Umrah flights are operated by several airlines such as Lion Air, Garuda Indonesia, and Saudia.

‘The guidance issued by the government is that the choices are determined for pilgrims and the organisers because they have already flown every day; the escalation cannot yet be predicted; the government should, therefore, outline the next steps,’ he explained.

‘The next steps are not yet clear to us, because they cannot make policies themselves as there will be other related bodies that oversee the services,’ he added.